Sangakkara moves to No.3 in ICC ratings

Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka's vice-captain, has shot up to No.3 in the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen. Sangakkara, who recently cracked an unbeaten 200 in his latest outing against Bangladesh, has only Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf and Australia's Ricky Ponting ahead of him in the list.

Sangakkara can, however, claim to be ahead of Yousuf and Ponting in at least one respect: this was his fifth Test double hundred, eclipsing the four each scored by the two players in front of him in the table. Sangakkara, who averages 52.17 from 66 matches, has managed double-hundreds against four opponents and now has the highest-ever rating by a Sri Lanka batsman in Test cricket.

Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful, who also had a good outing in the recently concluded second Test at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium, has climbed to a career-high listing. Ashraful, on his first tour in charge of Bangladesh, scored a defiant unbeaten 129, an innings that propelled him up 15 spots to 45th position in the batting table. Wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim, who chipped in with a feisty 80, climbed 54 places to 102nd place.

Muttiah Muralitharan, who snapped up four wickets in the first innings of that game and one in the second, hasn't extended his lead at the top of the rankings for Test bowlers but still remains well clear of South Africa fast bowler Makhaya Ntini. Third-placed Anil Kumble of India is some distance behind these two but he can close the gap with some good performances in the forthcoming Test series against England.

Top 15 Test bowlers

Rank	Bowler	Points
1	Muttiah Muralitharan	913
2	Makhaya Ntini	856
3	Anil Kumble	730
3	Shaun Pollock	730
5	Shane Bond	722*
6	Matthew Hoggard	721
6	Monty Panesar	721*
8	Stuart Clark	720*
9	Mohammad Asif	710*
10	Shoaib Akhtar	698
11	Andrew Flintoff	680
12	Chaminda Vaas	678
13	Corey Collymore	673*
14	Danish Kaneria	662
15	Brett Lee	644

*indicates provisional rating; a batsman qualifies for a full rating after playing 40 Test innings; a bowler qualifies for a full rating when he reaches 100 Test wickets.

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